Didn't 'Airaech' mean 'nobleman at some point? Also aren't the Picts speak a Britonic Celtic similar to the 'Welsh' maybe they used the word Gael for Irish speakers.This gets a bit mad the word Scott was used to describe the Irish, then by the time of the Stewart's Scots meant lowlanders who spoke a sort of English and the highlanders (McDonald lord of the Isle allies) were called Gaelic.As for Adamson's book it wasn't as good or well informed as as any of Howard's andI'll waste no more time on him.

Didn't 'Airaech' mean 'nobleman at some point? Also aren't the Picts speak a Britonic Celtic similar to the 'Welsh' maybe they used the word Gael for Irish speakers.This gets a bit mad the word Scott was used to describe the Irish, then by the time of the Stewart's Scots meant lowlanders who spoke a sort of English and the highlanders (McDonald lord of the Isle allies) were called Gaelic.As for Adamson's book it wasn't as good or well informed as as any of Howard's andI'll waste no more time on him.

Scot though is only known in Latin sources and is not a native term. I dont think we will ever know what the Picts called themselves collectively.

Didn't 'Airaech' mean 'nobleman at some point? Also aren't the Picts speak a Britonic Celtic similar to the 'Welsh' maybe they used the word Gael for Irish speakers.This gets a bit mad the word Scott was used to describe the Irish, then by the time of the Stewart's Scots meant lowlanders who spoke a sort of English and the highlanders (McDonald lord of the Isle allies) were called Gaelic.As for Adamson's book it wasn't as good or well informed as as any of Howard's andI'll waste no more time on him.

Indeed though I would imagine it's more "gentry" that would be appropriate term. Bóaire = "cattlelord" -- however they were "freeholders" as oppose to the Flatha (plural of Flaith), who could be termed "hereditary princes" (nobility/aristocracy). So men who were aire's would have owed allegience to a lord (Flaith). The Flatha in turn would owe allegience to a Rí (king). Likewise several types of King, all the way up the pile until you hit Ard-Rí (High-King) though I would think the province-kings were really those who had most amount of power within their domain (province), as high-kingship is in some ways more theoretical/aspirational (or "with opposition" as they say in 11th/12th centuries)

I should mention that in the summary of the first link he gives an example of succession among the Southern Uí Néill, specifically the "Síl nÁedo Sláine" ("seed" of Áed Sláine) who were historically Kings of Bregha (Brega -- basically modern County Meath) and who along with Clann Cholmáin were the two kindreds that made up the "Southern Uí Néill" -- as oppose to the "Northern Uí Néill" which were made up of the Cenél nEóghain and the Cenél Chonaill.

I notice the map of supposedly Pictish areas (by Eoin McNeil I think it was) corresponds to 'loyalist strong holds at present. I don' know if this coincidental or suggests a connection to Scotland. I doesn't line up with the plantation to well. Then again this N.Ireland and politics is an issue that frequently influences historical analysis.

There is an even better correspondence between La Tene material and Cruithin tribes. In the earliest sources there was no single ethnicity called the Gaels. The Irish were a number of sub-ethnicities or strata described as Errain, Cruithin etc. The concept of a single Gaelic ethnicity and Gaels in general seems to have been devised in the early Medieval period by Latinate writters to create a unified national history when in reality there were several strata and many tribes and no unity. The giveaway is the name Gael is not even Irish. Its British (Welsh). The Gaelic language is very old but the concept of 'Gaels' is nowhere near as old. In general tribal people see differences rather than unity and names like Scot, Pict, Gael etc seem to not have been native terms and were used by outsiders or latinate writters to create an umbrella term.

I agree to a large extent but as you mention elsewhere the Irish had terms for foreigners or at least others not from Ireland, gall, so there must’ve been some sort of collective identity. Of course Welsh speakers were using Prydyn (Pretani) for Pict

There actual is a word, however most people don't know it ;-) it's:Féni

This word is the root of the later Fian (plural Fianna), members of a Fian/Fianna were called: fénnid

Another good example where the word comes up is in the word for the law (Brehon law in english): fénechas -- basically Irish/freeman's law.

Proto-Goidelic underwent a sound change where Proto-Celtic V/W (sometimes written as U) mutated to a f sound. As a result Veni -> Féni, in proto-brythonic the sound change was from a V/W -> gw

Generally it's regarded that both féni and Guoidel (old-welsh) share common root in Proto-IE.

Anyways if you look at Ptolemy/roman sources you see the word "veni" shows up as part of tribal names all over the place.

I had come across the Feni thing before in discussion about Irish law tracts etc. It is interesting and as you say its not known widely. Was there not some sort of class terms like Grad Flaith and Grad Feine (my spellings are probably wrong) that suggest that the latter meant the ordinary people while the former meant the nobles.

As for the Goidil I thought the first part was from Gwyddel which had the root Gwydd (Irish Fid, old Celtic Vid/Ved='wood' rather than the Ven root in Feni. I had however heard that there was a connection between the element in Gwynned in Wales (I think which is from Venedotia or something like that) and the Irish Feni. I tend to think that Feni meant the ordinary people and commoner young warriors. Was there not also a term Bearla Feinne or something like that which seemed to mean 'language of the people' or something like that.

Apart from class, Feni was IIRC originally an ethnic term synonymous w Connacta, apart from Uster & other tribes. It later became a class, like airig